Salem Oakstrom
Salem "Charon" Oakstrom '''(KANJI, ROMAJI) is a Vigilante who resides somewhere in the United States of America, doing whatever she pleases when she so pleases. In the beginning she was an aspiring Heroine, someone who wanted to use her tremendous gifts for the good of all. Until, in her efforts, she caused the attention of the wrong people, who then proceeded to brutally torture and abuse her Younger Brother. Forever shackled by the horrors she witnessed together with the final words of her beloved brother before he succumbed to his injuries, Salem was fettered to a life of hatred, bitterness and excess for the rest of her days. Serving now as something of a Vigilante on the streets, cleansing them of their villainous filth, while at the same time taking whatever she needs to make it another day, until it eventually earned her the epiphet of "Charon", essentially making her a legend and a horror story. One whispered in the hushed voices of those who have something to hide. Salem is both proud and disgusted of this name. For one, it fits her well with what she has done, but on the other hand, she is no man, and to insinuate otherwise is an insult. Salem is now a leader of a sizable community of gangsters, murderers and thieves, forming something a kin to a mafia family of her own. Many have whispered of trying to overthrow her, few have made attempt, and fewer still yet lives to tell of their attempt. While not necessarily liked, she is respected these days in her community. But whether that is due to fear or admiration, or maybe even both, has yet to be revealed. Appearance Personality Cruel, cold and heartless, a select few words to describe the first impressions one gets when talking with Salem Oakstrom. In her youth she was anything but this, but after the tragic fall of her brother, she lost her will and desire to see the best in people. Instead she elected to rather beat the evil out of them until they either submit to her will, or succumb to their injuries. She has lost all empathy for everyone and anyone who would indulge in villainous acts or dare to bring harm to those few left that she cares about. While she condemns villainous acts, and she has shaped laws within her family to ensure that no one goes too far, she is not above some typical hypocrisy, such as indulging in the very murders and property destruction which she condemns. Her Mafia family is difficult to control at times, but when push comes to shove, not a single man or woman would dare to defy her when she has made up her mind. Salem is an overall distant person, one who's life has been mired in conflict and loss, and thus feel little towards her fellow men and women, acting more on the proxy of what she knows is right rather than feel to be right. It is arguable that she would feel more contention and good of heart to murder a million people rather than saving a million. There are still a few people she has feelings for, those who she call friends and even lovers. Dwade, Hex-Code and Aaron are such people. Aaron is a good friend to Salem while Dwade and Hex-Code serve as her closest confidants, lovers and comrades. Yet despite such bonds, she has not been tied down by them, rather going about as she pleases all the same. It is no unheard of among them to hear that Salem have spread her legs for not just her two closest. And yet, no one seems to mind, and if they do, they have not voiced it. Salem is just as depraved as her family, with the only highground taken being that she tries to maintain order for them. Salem is a fighter above all, not wanting to sit behind closed doors and file papers, but rather stand up for those unable to save themselves and eviscerate those who would bring her kin harm. She is under the firm belief that she will do better work out on the field rather than in an office. She, under disguise, have been one of the driving factors to how her crime syndicate still stands independent of others, and having repelled incoming threats and survived these times of excessive heroism. Salem have consistently lost and regained ground and sources of income at even paces. But through cunning and sheer mass of income, she always finds a way to reclaim what she has lost. Her crime family, Abaddon, is the only thing she holds close to heart beyond her three remaining friends. She has gone to excessive lengths to keep them all safe and outside of the long arm of the law. Though if you ask her why that is, she will simply reply that it is because everyone deserves to belong, and that she feels that she can never belong anywhere else than here. History Equipment Sunburst Sombra Quirk and Abilities '''Quantum Light: Salem's is in possession of an Emitter type Quirk that grants her unprecedented combat prowess for a singular human being. Serving as a mix between her mother's Light Quirk and her father's Quantum Quirk, thus creating Quantum Light, the penultimate power to end all other powers, or so she says. This quirk has the ability to manipulate and generate quantum particles, properties, and powers to use at her behest. With this new power in hand, she can perform light attacks of various properties, such as the forces of lightning, heat, cold, "darkness", and more, and either shape ammunition or weapons to utilize in combat. What's more, she is capable of naturally absorbing light of all various kinds together with the radiation that accompanies it, granting what she calls charges to use for her hero-moves. Her most common way of utilizing this quirk is to fuel her trademark Hand Canons with ammunition by dedicating a minimal amount of hardened photons to shape up bullets, either by creating them herself or by spending her charges to make them. One Charge can fuel up to fifty bullets. Salem can currently stock up on thirty charges before running dry but can recover it quicker if exposed to extensive rays of light and radiation. Thanks to her innate ability to incorporate electrons and other particles, energies and forces into her hardlight attacks, she is capable of performing extremely potent moves. Thanks to the electrons, she is capable of performing light attacks with the potency of electricity and even alter her own body to amplify or morph it with static power. Her moves can paralyze, shock, and if she so desires, with some continuous exposure she can disintegrate her opposition. She can increase her strength temporarily coursing electrons through her muscles, either strengthening them or making them contract to the point where they harden and constrict like a rock. However, despite such incredible power and versatility at her arsenal, the quirk comes with its fair share of drawbacks and weakness'. For example, abundant use of the speed can end in ordinarily catastrophic results. Especially considering her reckless tendency to overuse her quirk's abilities, it has been a common sight for her to be rendered with a few digits or limbs less than she previously possessed. Granted, she is capable of recovering what she lost this way with further and greater exposure to intense light, UV and/or lesser amounts of radiation. For anyone else, this would be a severe problem, but with her quirk continuously absorbing light into herself, exposure which could fry the human skin in a minute is more like a simple summers day for her. One of her more versatile particle powers is that of Tachyons. With these particles she is capable of several things, including, but not limited to: creating attacks that can travel fast as light itself. However, the interesting part fo the tachyon attacks is that while fast as all hell, they lose potency and power the faster they travel. Lightspeed attacks will essentially just evaporate on contact, so to make stronger attacks she actually has to make them travel slower. The slower the movements, the greater the impact. What's more, beyond traveling at such speeds that it becomes near impossible to dodge them, they can also travel in time. Not backwards, mind you, but forward from the point in which they were made. They leave this current time and space to then occupy another location in the future, essentially allowing her to store attacks within a certain time-lapse. Moves * '''Lightspeed: '''Salem infuses her body with the properties of Photons to drastically enhance her speed, allowing her to move much faster than she could naturally. By phasing her body and including photons in her physical being, about a 10% ratio, she can run at speeds comparable to a sprinting Cheetah, and then maintain such speeds for an extended duration. Lightspeed can also be used to alter objects and infuse them with the property of her photons, making them go faster or hitting with greater force against an opponent. If she so desires, Salem can infuse herself, not only with photons but with electrons as well, which will serve to even further enhance her speed and strength and even dampen the pain she feels from excessive use. However, as with everything, it comes at a price. Granted a rather small price to pay, in such that it drains her stored light much faster than usual, meaning that she can sustain her form for a shorter amount of time. * '''Tachyon-Haste: '''Salem pushes the idea of Lightspeed to its logical extreme. This move, while not incorporating actual tachyons, is a technique which bestows incredible speeds to herself or objects. Tachyon-Haste is a follow-up technique to Lightspeed, allowing her to incorporate even more photons into her being, up to a current safe maximum of 25%, allowing her to, for temporary bursts, sprint at speeds comparable to the likes of a sky-diving Peregrine Falcon. If she so desires, Salem can infuse herself, not only with photons but with electrons as well, which will serve to even further enhance her speed and strength and even dampen the pain she feels from excessive use. However, as with everything, it comes at a price. Granted a rather small price to pay, in such that it drains her stored light much faster than usual, meaning that she can sustain her form for a shorter amount of time. However, it is also not unheard of her to surpass the safe limit of 25% in order to achieve greater strength and speed at the risk of her own health. By breaching her limitation of 25, she can risk her digits or even entire limbs dematerializing. * '''Bullet-Make: '''As the name might imply, Salem creates a cartridge of Photon/Electron/Photoelectron bullets to be used in her hand-cannons, allowing for her to shoot from a distance or close range with great potency while still paying an absolute minimum for their creation. These bullets can join together into a single more potent bullet, as demonstrated when Salem used her hand-cannon to shoot a bullet straight through a concrete wall which proceeded to nearly shatter it as a result. * '''Light Stream: '''Salem creates a beam of photons which is expelled from the palm of her hand, sending it out in a potent ray of hardened light, striking foes with incredible might. This light stream can also be heated to incredible levels thanks to the properties of the photons, heating to the point of burning like fire. The stream is a long ranged, sustained beam style attack which can pierce through steel constructs, rock, and even solid concrete. * '''Photon Hover: '''This move is entirely made for the sake of utility, and serves little to no combat purpose. This move allows her to essentially slow down her fall, making her descent more manageable no matter the height or what caused her to fall in the first place. This is not to be mistaken for flight, as it is impossible to rise higher with this move, it simply allows her to essentially fall with a bit more style. * '''Static Contraction: '''This move allows Salem to make an opponent's muscles contract and tense up tot he point of causing severe pain. This attack requires her to get up close and lay her hand on her opposition and infuse electrons into their system, causing their muscles to stiffen. Contraction can actually be taken one step further, a technique she developed in the rare situation where lethal force is permissible/required. By surging the Electrons at a rapid pace into their system and connecting them on a cellular level, Salem can effectively distort or cancel out the electrical field which binds all matter together. Essentially, she can dissolve an entire human being in a minute's time. This was a heavily criticized move by her teachers, but one which ultimately couldn't be given a reason to not exist, nor was it on the table to delete the move from her mind. * '''Photon Blast: '''As simple a move as it comes. Salem charges up an excessive amount of Photons and Light waves in her hand which she then expels in a bright flash, causing immense damage at close ranges and blinds opponents with the bang of light. The blast can cause a whole block of concrete to shatter to pieces with the explosion, or at it's lowest level, can send a human being hurtling through the air and land some ten feet away from her. She has used this move to blow open obstacles most commonly, but in the case of combat, it is a most efficient means of battle. * '''I'm Everywhere: '''Salem's most complicated move by far. This ability allows Salem to infuse her body with a nearly overwhelming amount of electrons into her body. This grants her no increased effects of strength, speed or any such things which are otherwise attributed to her speed-enhancers. Instead, what it does is that it incorporates a property of the quantum particle into her being. Electrons possess' the ability to exist and occupy more than one location at once, which when unified with her own being, allows her to replicate the same feat. Many mistakes this ability for a cloning technique, but such a claim would be faulty. They are both Salem, indistinguishable from each other and unified in purpose and thought. This technique essentially allows her to double her power output by using another her to dish out equal amounts of power. There is no greater risk to this technique beyond that she must be able to manage both her bodies at once, directing them to her whims and deciding their actions. If she is left distracted she could end up being unable to respond to a threat towards one of her self's. What's more, as it is not a clone but rather herself occupying two areas at once, any damage dealt to one of her selves is also inflicted to her other self. * '''Solar Rays: '''Salem expells a great amount of her stored light within her into an extremely powerful spray of photon javelins. This move possesses unparalleled destructive power for a youth her age, able to punch through meters think slabs of concrete with laughable ease. This move has been nicknamed "The Apocalypse", and with all due right considering what it can do. Of course, the amount of power can be restrained to a lesser amount, however, because of the drawbacks. No matter the level of power she puts into it, by using this move she receives a sheen around her body that absorbs all light for a full twenty-four hours, leaving her vulnerable should she expend the rest of her stored light and being unable to replenish. These days she has proven herself so powerful that entire city blocks would be in danger if she were to make use of the Solar Rays. * '''Raijin's Bo: '''Salem uses a combination of her Photons and Electrons to conjure forth a Bo Staff of electrical light. This staff allows her to perform strikes at a longer range and with impressive speed and agility at that. The staff's strikes stuns the opponent from the cheer amount of voltage and ampere within it, keeping all those struck in a constant and endless cycle of paralyzation. Each strike of the staff results in small, concentrated blast of electricity and photons upon the point of impact, which can cause severe pinpoint damage. Salem most commonly uses this move when she wishes to keep her opposition in a constant stun-locked state while also keeping her distance. The staff can not, however, maintain its shape forever. It becomes clear when the staff starts to lose its strength as it begins to flicker out of existence, giving those attentive a hint of when the time is running out. * '''Artemis' Bow: '''Salem uses a combination of her Photons and Electrons to conjure forth a Longbow of electrical light. This bow is the perfect stealth weapon for Salem. It is quiet, powerful and its ammunition is near impossible to spot. The bow and arrows absorbs the ambient light in the area, and with the electrical currents keep the light from escaping again, essentially becoming like a black hole in a sense, not in that it has the same kind of power, but rather that it becomes invisible to see, since no light is escaping and reflecting from it, it is not visible. The arrows in question work just like the bow, but unlike the bow which is invisible at all times, the ammunition becomes visible after a short while. However, on ranges of 75 yards or less, there is no chance to visibly spot the arrow as it travels too fast for such. * '''Strings of Neith: '''Salem uses a combination of her Photons and Electrons to conjure forth a collection of strings made of electrical light. The strings can be as blunt as common yarn thread, or it can be as potently sharp as the keenest of scalpel blades and beyond. The strings are most flexible and prehensible, able to bend and shape in a multitude of ways, all while being under absolute control of Salem. The issue stands that it is a very new move for her, and with so many wires taking form and being wielded at a time it leaves for a multitude of risks of tripping or losing track of one or two of the wires. Despite it, she is a very capable string wielder, able to bind and cut her foes with them, as displayed when she utilized them to cut a ballistic-gel human doll to pieces. ** '''Neith's Barrier-Weave: '''In addition to being able to attack and bind her foes with the wires, her skill with the strings have grown to such an extent where she can weave them together to shape up simple tools or even a barrier-weave of these strings to protect herself from all manners of harm. She proved able to use this barrier-weave to block an armor-piercing bullet from a Sniper Rifle, ward off a shotgun blast and even a blow from her younger brother's muscled fist, who was in possession of some form of strength enhancer quirk. * '''Fading Sun: '''Salem awaits her opponent to deliver a blow, and once it connects, even if only so slightly, she will scatter into countless photons. This move is to temporarily surprise and stun her opponent while she prepares for something else. This move is a calculated one, meaning that she must decide ahead of time how long it will take before she re-assembles herself. This can prove an issue for the prepared or expecting, as they can simply wait her out until she puts herself back together, making her a more vulnerable target. Trivia * Salem Oakstrom appearance is based off of a human Rarity from My Little Pony. * Salem is also based on one of the Author's most favored characters from an older wikia.